Heads or Hearts

Fans of mysteries set in alternative realities will welcome Johnston’s sixth Quint Dalrymple whodunit (after 2001’s The House of Dust). In 2003, the Enlightenment Party came to power in Edinburgh and isolated the city from the rest of Scotland; 30 years later, most of Europe’s parliaments have been destroyed, and the British monarchy has fallen out of popular favor after the marriage of Prince Charles to a “Colombian drugs heiress.” The rulers of 2033 Edinburgh, the Council of City Guardians, turn to Dalrymple, a respected independent investigator, after someone leaves a human heart in the middle of a football stadium. This disturbing act worries the guardians, who were tipped off to the grisly find and are concerned that the person responsible was sending a message connected with legends of Scottish history. The case gets even more bizarre when a headless corpse turns up near another playing field. Johnston skillfully fleshes out his despotic future, making it easy for readers to buy into his imagined world. (Aug.)